Near as Beautiful as Tintagel
by Juleeroze
Summary: A trip to the past has lessons for Captain Daniel Gregg and Mrs. Muir's family.
1. Chapter 1

**Near as Beautiful as Tintagel**

**by Julie Feldman**

Chapter One

It was a beautiful, sunny morning. The children were off to school, Martha was in town doing some food shopping, Scruffy was having a mid-morning nap and Carolyn Muir was having a successful session at her typewriter working on a magazine article. The only member of the crew not accounted for was Captain Daniel Gregg. Carolyn noted his absence, but she knew he wasn't far away. On those occasions when he had left the environs of Gull Cottage, the house had a cold, empty feel to it and even when Candy and Martha had not yet known of the ghost's presence, they could feel that something was amiss. No, she reasoned to herself, he was just busy with something like his charts and returned to her typing.

Perhaps a half-hour later, the Master Cabin filled with the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee and the Captain materialized with a cup and saucer in his hand for Mrs. Muir.

"For you m'dear. You've been working very steadily this morning and I'm sure you could use a cup by now."

"Thank you Captain". She took a grateful sip of the coffee. "We missed you at breakfast this morning.  
"My apologies, madam. I_ do_ miss seeing the children off to school. Unfortunately, I had some arrangements to make that were of an urgent nature."

"Oh?" Carolyn said, her curiosity peaked. "May I ask what they were and why they were urgent, or is that a ghostly secret?"

"No, Mrs. Muir. In fact, I came to tell you about it." The Captain pulled on his left ear, as he often did when he had a difficult time coming right to the point. "I am afraid that I will be away for a few days, and I arranged with one of my colleagues to take my night watch over Gull Cottage."

"Away for a few days?" Carolyn asked, becoming more curious. "Does it have something to do with your Spectral Fraternity?"

"Aye, it does, madam."

She looked surprised. "But didn't you just have a meeting about six weeks ago?"

He looked at her with a bit of shock. He hadn't realized how closely Carolyn Muir kept track of his comings and goings.

"It is not a meeting of the Fraternity itself. The Masters and Guides Council have asked me to meet with them."

"'The Masters and Guides Council'? That sounds like a pretty important group."

"They are, m'dear. They are a combination of our leadership, our liaison to The Powers and our teachers and mentors."

Carolyn nodded slowly as she absorbed this information. A thousand thoughts and questions were zooming back and forth in her brain. "Are you in some sort of trouble?" She stood and stepped around her chair to where he was standing at the desk's corner. "They wouldn't reprimand you for making yourself known to us, would they?" She was honestly frightened that somehow Daniel would be torn away from them.

"There are many reasons that they would wish to speak to me. But do not be afraid of any ill consequences, dear. Their role is to help those of us caught between worlds, not to punish us. They guide, suggest, even nudge us along, but punishment is only what we create for ourselves. Occasionally, we are asked to carry out a small task. They have asked this of me before you and your family arrived at Gull Cottage. I am sure that this summons is something of that sort. I merely wanted to prepare you for my absence."

She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. After her parents attempt to marry her off to "Captain" Claymore, she and Captain Gregg had reached a new level of understand and companionship and had even let a few words of their hidden feelings be spoken aloud. She didn't want to think that that in the midst of all the good feelings that were enveloping the inhabitants of Gull Cottage, they might have caused harm to this wonderful man. "How long do you think you'll be gone?" she asked.

"I can't be absolutely sure. Time in their dimension is very different than it is here. I would think that I would be absent for three or four days. A week at the most."

"And you _will_ come back to us?" Carolyn wished she could touch his hand. It would be so much more reassuring than just standing there, looking up at his face.

Daniel bent over her a bit and spoke softly to her, "I promise you I will be back. I will always be here for you, my dearest." The Captain stood straight again and took a step back as he cleared his throat. "I will be leaving tonight after the children have been tucked in. I want to reassure them as well _and_ tell them a bedtime story."

Of course, after hearing the news, no one in Gull Cottage was happy, but the children took their beloved Captain Gregg at his work. Carolyn and Martha, however, harbored deeper fears, despite his repeated reassurances.


	2. Chapter 2

**Near as Beautiful as Tintagel**

Chapter Two

Daniel materialized in front of the Council after he had finished his goodbyes at Gull Cottage. The Guides were other spirits who could have passed on into the light but chose to stay or to come back to help others. Daniel himself was in the earliest phase of learning to be a guide by providing assistance to those newly arrived in spirit, so he knew that even the most senior of the guides could be visualized. They usually appeared has they had in life, although one or two enjoyed changing their image from time to time.

The Masters, on the other hand, were completely different types of beings and almost never manifested themselves in a humanoid manner. They were beings of pure energy and most often appeared as light or mist, or even as only a disembodied voice. The Captain wasn't sure that all of them had been human in life or even born on Earth. And while he had stressed to Carolyn, the children and Martha that there was nothing to fear from this summons, he had to admit that there was a very, very small voice inside him warning him that there were things that he could, conceivably be punished for, and not the least of these was letting Carolyn Muir get a glimpse of his feelings for her.

The guides were the first to greet him. He had met a few of them in times past, but he did not know the majority of them. They came to him, surrounding him with a feeling of gentle warmth and acceptance. Daniel realized how calm and serene these most senior of the guides were. Whatever had propelled them into the netherworld of spirits seemed to have been resolved, allowing them a peacefulness that he envied.

He next sensed the arrival of the Masters. He thought here were three of them, but then again, their nature was to merge and separate, so that it wasn't always possible to determine how many entities there actually were. When they spoke, they spoke in one voice, unlike the guides who were most certainly individual spirits.

The Masters addressed him first:

"Daniel, our child," The voice they used was neither male nor female, young nor old. "we greet you with love. I has been too long since we spent any time in communion with you, for which we freely give you our apologies. However, you have been doing well, dear one, without much interference from us. Still, it is time for us to provide you with assistance along your path."

For a moment, the Captain felt fear creep up his spine. Did they mean that he was to leave the ghostly plane for another? One where he would be separated from the family he had come to love and call his own?

"Fear not, beloved child. Your human family is both a tool for you to learn from and a reward for your growth. And you provide lessons for them as well. We will not separate you from those you love and who love you in return.

"However, because you have chosen to delay your return to that which is the center of all, where all souls come to rest, renew and understand, you have not had the opportunity to process the lessons of your life. You do not yet remember the ongoing process of life and life between lives, that which allows all souls the experiences necessary to refine themselves. Reviewing and ingesting the lessons of your immediate past life are path to that refinement. We feared that your extended ghostly life would interfere with that process. But, our dearest Daniel, your heart's desire is to be with Carolyn until it is her time to cross over and we would not deny you your soul mate and this time together. In truth, it is more learning for you both, and its effects are already apparent for you and for her.

"What we shall do is allow you to briefly experience a long-ago life. This will give you the insight to see how far you've come on your path toward enlightenment, and how much farther you have to go. Some of the guides will assist you in this exercise. Now, we leave you with our blessings…"

"Wait!" Daniel suddenly realized that he had spoken without being bidden to, but he continued on. "I ask that instead of blessing me, you bless my family."

He swore he could feel the smile in the Masters' voice.

"We leave you and your beloved family with our blessings, Daniel."

One of the spirit guides who he knew only as "the wise old Mother", stepped forward and drew him to her. She was a small, bent over old woman, so old that only a few wisps of hair remained, and her eyes were deeply sunken into their sockets, but those eyes burnt brightly. "Come, my son. You are to have an adventure!" The others gathered round him, encouraging him and admonishing him again not to be afraid. He was lead to the illusion of a deep soft chair, where they bade him sit, and they covered him in what he perceived to be a soft blanket. For the first time in over a hundred years, Daniel Gregg felt himself falling asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Near as Beautiful as Tintagel**

Chapter Three

He stood on the promontory, his blond hair long, its waves and curls dancing in the wind from the ocean. He was four inches shorter but stockier than when he lived as Captain Daniel Gregg. Now he was Dannil, the chief of the tribe. He stood on his land, his azure blue eyes surveying the sea before him. This fishing was good this year and the women had salted and preserved enough to tide them over winter.

Turning, he looked at his fields and meadows. The grass was sweat here and the water pure. Their cattle and sheep did well, they were able to have meat, mutton and milk and his people were well clothed, even in the cold and damp of winter. Their houses were of wood and stone, and he had built himself a modest stone castle on the highest point in their village. It's three towers thrust elegantly into the sky, crowned with crenellated walls like lace against the setting and the rising sun. When it had been finished those years ago, he said it was "near as beautiful as Camelot's Tintagel Castle", which he'd seen many times in his dreams. It was his ability to "see" things, as much as being the only son of the last clan chief, that had confirmed his position. He had kept them safe, navigated the twisting of alliances both within and without his tribe, and won most of the battles he had led his men into.

His sturdy legs carried him effortlessly toward the village. Although Dannil could count more than forty summers to his life, he felt just as vital as he had that day he first noticed Linnea. He had known her, of course. He knew everyone in the village. But until that day, she had been just a little scamp, darting in and out of things and telling her playmates all sorts of fantastic tales. Somehow, he mused, from one day to the next she had grown up and become beautiful. Her hair was a lighter blond than his and she had lively, dancing green eyes. She was possessed of a most lovely, lithe figure and on that day, Dannil felt a heat in his groin that no other girl in the village could produce. He was elated to find that she thought him just as enticing, although he already had many dreams that it would be so. He smiled remembering the autumn that they secretly courted, how they would steal moments away, sharing kisses and dreams and plans for their future. He would tell her of the images he saw in his nightly dreams and she would spin them into tales. At times they would go down to the pebbly water's edge and watch the fishermen and the traders come and go in their small boats. He would tell her what he had heard of other lands from these men, and she would imagine them traveling to these strange places together. She would often come with him while he watched over his flock of fine sheep and they would watch the clouds fly by and tell each other what they thought they looked like. Finally, at the Winter Solstice feast he approached her father. Old Garreth was the tribe's smith and weapon's maker. As such, he was a member of Dannil's father's council. Once upon a time the two elders had been the strongest men in the tribe and it's most accomplished warriors. They were friends and comrades, but not bosom-sworn as the Chief was with one or two others. Garreth was known to speak his mind, and Dannil, if truth be told, was not accustomed to being denied, so before the feasting could really get underway, the crowd found themselves entertained by a shouting match between the weapon's maker and the chiefling.

"What do you mean that you do not want to marry her to me?" Dannil cried out.

"You may be your father's heir and our future chief, but that still does not mean that you are a good enough man to become hand-fasted to my daughter!"

"Why not?!" the younger man took a menacing step toward Garreth, who poked a finger into Dannil's chest.

"For this very reason, Dannil," he said so quietly that the spectators had to strain to hear. "Your temper grows hot in but a second. It can lead you to do things you never intended to do. I will not let Linnea live with a man who could cause her harm because he cannot control his temper."

Dannil was instantly chastened. He did have a temper that could suddenly become uncontrollable, as if he were possessed, but he would never do anything to hurt his beloved. He began to try to explain this to Garreth, when his father, Chief Aethyn walked between the two.

"Garreth, my friend! You and I should talk. Together, we can decide what is best for our children. Don't you agree?" And so the elder men walked away together to discuss a possible union of their families. Following closely behind was Radha, the tribe's most senior priestess.

Dannil looked through the dispersing crowd to find Linnea, sobbing in the arms of her old nurse, Maeve. The nurse was a cousin of his own family, who had been widowed at a very young age, with a child still at the breast. Now, steel-gray haired and comfortingly plump, she had come almost seventeen summers ago to Garreth's family to care for Linnea and her younger siblings. He approached the pair, but Linnea only buried her face deeper into Maeve's embrace.

"Linnea…" he began.

"Go away." she responded. "I don't want to talk to you. I knew this would happen!" She looked up at him. "I had just prayed that you wouldn't respond with anger, but you did!"

He began to apologize, but Maeve just told him gently to let things be for the while, so he turned away from the feast and walked out into the cold wind to the piece of land jutting into the winter's sea, stormy and dark like the feelings churning in his chest.

He stayed there staring first at the sea and then at the stars and the moon as they rose. It could have been an hour, or it could have been four times that. He seemingly moved not a muscle as the wind snapped his cloak about like a flag and his hair like the sea serpents that the legends said inhabited the waters below, looking for those innocents who fell from this very rock. He was cold, but it did not matter. If he had to stand there for a year in order to win Linnea, he would. If he had to find and defeat the dragon that spit fire into the sky on warm summer nights, he would do that too.

"Dannil?" It was his father. The young man whirled around and bowed to his chief.

"Yes, Father?"

"I have successfully obtained Linnea for your wife. You will pay Garreth two cows, a bull and a half flock of your best sheep as the bride-price. You will also pay Radha two ewes and one male kid. It was she who convinced Garreth that your handfasting with Linnea was predestined."

Dannil bowed again. "Gladly, Father. I cannot thank you enough for arranging this for me…for us."

Aethyn's blue eyes twinkled, but Dannil could not see them in the dark. "Well, boy, you owe me also for being your chief negotiator." He tugged at his left ear as he paced a bit. "I think I would like a partridge and some fine ale for my dinner tomorrow."

Dannil's eyebrows arched in surprise. "Is that all that you would wish? It is so little for such a great gift."

"Indeed," said the older man, the light of the rising moon glinting off of his wavy silver hair. "I require other things of you and Linnea…grandchildren! Many grandchildren!"

Linnea and Dannil were handfasted at the next full moon. His dreams of their life together were happy and sweet, but he dreamt too of the cruelties that life routinely offered. Although they had spent time together the autumn of their secret courting, the night after their wedding feast was the first time they lay together. Dannil was somewhat experienced in the art of love by this time, but as befitted a child of a counselor to the chief, Linnea was a pure of body and mind. Her mother and Maeve had done their best to explain what her duty to Dannil that night after the feasting would be, but no one can convey adequately those first moments of wedlock. Linnea was by turns shy and curious. Dannil lead her gently to their marriage bed and covered her with soft kisses. Soon enough, she was pulling him to her, returning every kiss and touch.

By the time the meadow flowers began to bloom, Linnea was with child, but delivered it too early for it to survive. His cousin Eoghan was the tribe's herbalist, and he cared for Linnea after, making her bitter-tasting teas and poultices and promising that there would soon be strong children. Eoghan was taller and thinner than Dannil, but of the same age. Even as a child he had kept to himself and many in the village thought him rather strange and aloof. He had no bosom-sworn friends and no maiden or even widow wanted him. Despite this, Eoghan was happy in his life. He took good care of Linnea, for which Dannil and his father rewarded him well. By the time of the next Winter Solstice feast, Aethyn was able to show off his first grandson to his people.

And then came the Winter of the Sorcerers.

The tribe's lands included a small river on the other side of the village from the promontory. On the far side of the river was a strip of forested land that they claimed. Beyond the trees lay the land of another tribe that called themselves "Leanaí Na Talún" or "Children of the Land". Over eons the two groups had fought over the parcel, but for as long as the oldest of Aethyn's people could remember, it had belonged to them. But weeks before the Feast, the Leanaí Na Talún had announced that it was their land and they would take possession of it. Aethyn and several members of his council met with their counterparts. There was talk and more talk, near compromises and semi-understandings. Finally, it was agreed to renew the negotiations at the second full moon after the Winter Solstice.

Two days after the feast ended, the women started to find that the fish and meat they had preserved for the winter in the usual way, had begun to go bad. They saved as much as they could by smoking it or re-salting it. A week later the fishermen went to check on their fish-pots one morning and found them either broken to bits or missing altogether. Their boats leaked or the nets tore. Next the flour and meal became infested with grubs. The final blow was when it became so cold that the river froze over. With food and potable water running low and the peat and firewood being consumed at an unprecedented rate, the most vulnerable of the tribes members-the very old and the very young-began to die. The freezing weather was so bad, that it was almost impossible to dig graves. The grieving men of the village were able to hack one large grave out of the frozen ground and buried all their dead together, including the small babe of Dannil and Linnea.

The only possible explanation was sorcery by the Leanaí Na Talún. Aethyn gathered his priests and priestesses and Dannil as well and asked them all to find a way to undo the dark magic loosed against their tribe. While the religious folk prayed to their gods and consulted their books of spells over midnight pyres, Dannil dreamt of a battle between the tribes. It was a long, bloody fight and too many were lost on both sides, but Aethyn's people triumphed.

The next morning, the chiefling approached his father and told him of his dream. Most of the tribe knew of Dannil's dreams and believed he had the special blessing of foretelling the future, and no one believed this more than Aethyn, for he had a bit of this dream-vision himself.

"You will be the Battle Chief, my son," he declared. "Choose your lieutenants and your time. It will all be as you command. But," he said sternly, "I will wield my sword alongside yours. The men would lose heart if I were not there."

Dannil bowed. "It will be as you wish. We _shall_ defeat them and lift the curse."

He knew that he had not the luxury of planning and extra training. From day to day the tribe had less food, less water, less wood and peat. For three days in a row he had a group of the townspeople go to the gravesite and wail and moan as loudly as they could, so to be heard in the village of the Leanaí. The first day the group was large, but each succeeding day, he sent a smaller group. If there were spies in the woods across the river, they would think that more and more of the population were dying.

At the same time the warriors had gathered in the feast-house, the largest structure in the village at the time. It was here that they sharpened their swords, restrung their war-bows and increased their supplies of arrows. Dannil selected his lieutenants and prepared his men with their orders. On the third night, in the hour before dawn, his army went down to the river, giving thanks that if they could not drink from it, at least they could walk across it silently.

The battle proceeded precisely as he had dreamed it; it was bloody, it was long and they lost too many, including his father-in-law, Garreth. But in the end they triumphed. The Leanaí Na Talún were defeated and their witches and warlocks killed and fed to the fires. Within half a day's time, the cold lifted and the fish-pots began to fill again.

With the warmth of the new summer sun, Dannil roasted a fat sheep for his father and Linnea baked a pie filled with the blackberries that grew at the edge of the fields. Aethyn smiled at the pair and the food they had prepared.

"I suspect you are making me this meal to tell me some good news? Perhaps Linnea, you are with child again?" The young couple both laughed. "I know you both too well by now," the old man stated. "So Dannil, you've had a good dream this time?"

"Aye, Father. This child shall grow to adulthood and make us all proud."

Aethyn smiled sadly. "I shall not see it born, though. You are not the only one with the inner sight, my son. I am just not as thoroughly blessed with it as you are. But you will name this little one for me, so I will not really leave my people."

And so it was. Just days before Linnea's confinement, Aethyn died. He had not been ill. He simply did not wake up one morning. Three days later Linnea gave birth to a daughter and she and Dannil named her "Aethlyn". They swaddled her in cloth made from Aethyn's last cloak and gave thanks to him for her safe birth. Maeve had joined their household with the premature birth of their first child and they handed the baby to her, proclaiming her role as the Royal Nurse.

A week after their daughter's birth, Dannil and Linnea were acknowledged as the Chief and the Chief Consort of the tribe. The eldest priest and priestess placed the circlets of gold on them and Eoghan presented a goblet of a special mix of wine and herbs to give them strength as leaders of the tribe. Since he was also the tribe's alchemist, Eoghan had also created rings for them that contained magical and protective stones. Next, the members of Aethyn's Council of Advisors presented themselves to Dannil, individually offering their services to him. Even though it was part of the ceremony to accept all the old councilors and later change those that did not suit the new chief, Dannil was pleased to have them all by his side. Since his mother had passed on when he was a young child, there had been no Consort's Women for many years, but Linnea had asked her mother Godwin, Maeve, Radha and several others of the senior women of the tribe to be her advisors. Her role was not merely to be Dannil's wife and consort, but to embody the role of "Mother" to the tribe. Being so young, her Women would be very important, and they next came to make their vows of fealty.

The Consort's Women were followed by the senior warriors, who pledged themselves to the Chief and Chief's Consort, and then marched their men past the couple. Next came the head of the various craftsmen, tradesmen, fishermen, herders and farmers. Last to march past Dannil and Linnea were the rest of the tribespeople, who all shouted and hollered for their new leaders.

They ushered in an era of peace and prosperity for their people. Linnea continued to bear children for Dannil, and as was common, some lived, and some did not. Their last two, the children of their "old age", as it was said, were Cara and Eaoghain. Cara, the girl was older than her brother by two years, but they were constant companions. They both took after their mother more than Dannil, but both had his beautifully blue eyes. And they both would rather follow their father around and imitate the things that he did, than do anything else. It wasn't uncommon to see Dannil stride around the village holding the two of them at his side as if they were two logs, all three of them laughing and giggling. And just as he taught Eaoghain to use a knife and a bow and how to take care of the sheep and the cattle, he taught Cara as well. The girl was particularly good with the bow and arrow and had a natural sense of command. Linnea had already thought that she should apprentice with the priestesses.

Eaoghain was the village's favorite and welcomed with open arms everywhere. No one begrudged his constant questions because they knew that he was an intelligent boy. Although he had older brothers, most of the villagers thought that when the time came ("May it be in the far, far distant future!") Eaoghain should be Dannil's successor.

Dannil looked one last time at the promontory behind him. Yes, the summer had been good and even if the winter weather became unusually cold, the tribe would have sufficient food and fuel. Continuing to stride toward the protection of his castle and the warmth of his family, Dannil was a contented man.

In the family's apartments, he stood before the great fireplace, warming his hands, when there was a knock on the heavy oak door. He bade his guest enter, surprised to find Cousin Eoghan, his oldest son Fiacre and Aethlyn's young husband, Canice.

"My good clansmen, what news have you for me?" Dannil asked pleasantly.

Eoghan stood as their spokesman. "We have received a missive from the Leanaí Na Talún. They are again disputing our ownership of the land across the river. However, this time they are willing to negotiate the issue."

Dannil was surprised. From the history of the tribe passed down from father to son, from priest to chief, there had never been anything of the sort with the Leanaí Na Talún. They had always preferred to press their demands for the land with the weapons of war.

His decision was quick. "Call the councilors together. We will gather tomorrow morning in the meeting chamber to discuss this. I am not inclined to take the Leanaí Na Talún at their word."

"Have you had any dreams about this matter, Father?" asked Fiacre.

"No, nothing."

Canice was a quiet young man, younger than Fiacre, but noted for his good mind. "I have heard a few quiet rumors, my chief, that there is a small group of young rebel men among the Leanaí Na Talún who are dissatisfied with their elders' way of managing their tribe. Perhaps this is their doing, or perhaps they have goaded their chief into this action."

Dannil pinched his nose for a moment, thinking quickly of the possibilities. "This bears discussion among the council. We will meet in the morning."

The council's decision was to cautiously listen to the Leanaí Na Talún. Delegations met several times before the deep cold descended around the time of the winter solstice. Discussions resumed when the river began to unfreeze six weeks later. Although there were twists and turns in the negotiations with some things offered and then retracted, Dannil found himself surprised that the two tribes eventually came to an agreement to have his people share the strip of forest in return for a sizeable amount of rye and barley that the Leanaí Na Talún grew. It made him happy to think that they could come to such a mutually beneficial arrangement. At times he found himself daydreaming of a confederation of tribes developing out of this agreement.

The spring and early summer were happy and peaceful. Dannil and Linnea became grandparents to a little boy and Cara and Eaoghain grew like weeds. Cara already was twelve years old and it wouldn't be too many summers before there would be a handfasting to be arranged if she did not wish to apprentice with the priestesses. Her brother spent more and more time practicing with his sword and his bow, growing strong and sure. The people of the village were preparing for the Summer Solstice, the happiest of their festivals. There would be the usual ceremonies marking the day and a great bonfire and feast that night. This year, Dannil had decreed that during the day of the Solstice, there would be games and competitions and once their herds had been cared for, no one would work in the village or the fields. If, perhaps the treaty with the Leanaí Na Talún worked well, he would invite their chief and principle nobles to next year's celebrations.

In the hours before dawn, the villagers began to stream toward the promontory. The finger of land that jutted out into the sea would witness the sunrise line up exactly with its very end on that morning. In eons past their ancestors had set a pointed stone at the spot, and every man, woman and child thrilled each year as the rays of light broke over it. The priests and priestesses approached the stone, with Dannil, Linnea and their children just behind. The rest of the villagers gathered further back.

Then, just as the sun rose over the stone, the war-cries of the Leanaí Na Talún were heard behind them.

The villagers scattered. The women and the children followed Linnea to the safety of Dannil's castle, while the warriors rushed to grab anything that could be used as a weapon. It was fortunate that the Leanaí Na Talún's attack was from the west, facing into the glare of the rising sun, making it difficult to see the defenders and the terrain, but their surprise still caught too many and the field was quickly bloody.

The battle lasted until mid-day. Dannil didn't know how, but somehow they had overcome their enemy. This time there would be no quarter given and he gathered his remaining warriors and some of the older boys to follow into the village of the Leanaí Na Talún. Fiacre and Canice were by his side, as were other members of his family. Eaoghain had joined them as well. "No!" said Dannil, roughly pushing the boy away.

"I'm good with the sword, Father. You have said so yourself. And you need every warrior you can muster. Mother has the women and those that cannot fight safely in the castle and they have prepared the defenses. They have no need of me, and you do."

There was little time to think. It was true that Eaoghain's sword was needed, but by the Powers, this was his youngest child!

Fiacre was leading the archers down to the river, and Dannil could tarry no longer. "Alright," he told the boy, "but stay toward the rear."

The Leanaí Na Talún had also lost many of their warriors and were fleeing toward what they hoped would be the safety of their lands. They had been awake and on the march the night before while Dannil's people still slept and now their tiredness made them easier targets. Still they fought valiantly, their chieftain coming out to meet them before their village. He was older than Dannil, too old to be carrying a sword any longer, but he cheered on his men and cursed Dannil's. Somehow it was the curses that pushed Dannil over the edge. "Kill them, kill them all, every last man, woman and child. They will be buried by their own curses!" he yelled. With the blood-lust coursing through his veins, he swung his sword and cut the chieftain of the Leanaí Na Talún in half. Around him his warriors swept through their adversaries with swords clanging, shouts, grunts and moans filling the air.

And suddenly silence. Dannil looked around and saw only the remnants of his own army standing. Fiacre came to his side, holding up Canice who had a long, ugly gash to his thigh. Eoghan, his cousin lay in the mud, dead, as did many others. It was so quiet.

"Where is Eaoghain? Where is the boy?" he asked, turning this way and that. He began to stride forward, calling for his youngest. "Eaoghain?! EAOGHAIN!"

It seemed like a lifetime while he searched but was only moments. He found the boy next to another lad from the enemy village. They had killed each other, likely dying just moments apart.

Dannil sank to his knees and cradled his son's body to him. His heart-rending cry shattered the silence of the field of death. He closed his eyes, wishing himself dead as well.


	4. Chapter 4

**Near as Beautiful as Tintagel**

Chapter Four

He woke with a start, lying on the bed that had once been his own, Carolyn lying under the blankets next to him. If he still had a heart, it would have been beating out of his chest. His movements next to her woke Mrs. Muir.

"Captain!" She twisted around to look at him. It was still dark in the room, but the moonlight showed through the glass of the French doors and illuminated his face. He had been gone for four days and nights, but he looked like he had seen decades of hellish things.

"Captain Gregg!" He wasn't reacting to her, wasn't looking at her. His blue eyes were still far, far away, still seeing the remnants of that ancient life. He began to cry, and finally looked and saw her. "Tears?" she thought. They looked as real as he did but when they dropped onto the pillow, they did not wet it. "Daniel, please tell me what happened. Why are you crying?"

"Is…is everyone alright? Especially Jonathan?"

"Yes, of course. We're all fine. What did the Spectral Fraternity do to you?"

By the time dawn broke he had explained what had happened. He was up and pacing the room now, by turns speaking in whispers and then railing with all his might. Somehow Carolyn wasn't surprised that her family and some of their friends had lived that life with him. It only confirmed her feeling that they were soul mates and part of a whole "soul group". But she was concerned by the content of that life and the effect that re-experiencing it had had on her beloved Captain.

"So, if I understand this correctly," she began, "the Masters wanted you to review that life in particular because it would help you apply lessons learnt in your most immediate past life?"

"Yes," he replied. "And in this afterlife as well. I think most _particularly_ in this afterlife". He stopped his pacing and seemed to take a deep breath. "I believe, Carolyn, that you and I have shared many lives together, but rarely have I shared existences with the children, Martha and Claymore."

"And being part of a family was important to your development in that time and this?" she asked.

"Obviously," the Captain said drily. "With Martha and my so-called 'nephew', I had and have a certain level of responsibility and care. That level increases with you, but you are still an adult and have responsibility for yourself. With Candy and Jonathan, because of their youth and innocence, even though I share the care with you, even perhaps unequally, the level of involvement is that much greater."

"So the lesson was about protecting those you love, especially the most vulnerable?"

"No. Indeed that, in and of itself, was not what I needed to learn. I would venture a guess that I have always been good at being a protector. Sometimes," Daniel said ruefully, "too good at it. I believe that sometimes I can smother those I wish to protect."

Carolyn nodded slightly. She certainly felt that was true, but she didn't want to add anything further toward the Captain's angst.

"No, my dear, it was my actions that lead to the endangerment of my family and the whole clan that was the lesson. I have been known, even now in my afterlife, to have something of a quick temper. Would you agree with that assessment, Madam?"

Carolyn couldn't help but smile a little. "Yes, the climate up here can change rather suddenly and dramatically, I've found."

"The lesson, dear lady, is that much as I have tamed my angry responses since that time, I have further to go. I must learn to be patient. Much more patient. To hold the lad's body in my arms…because of my anger and desire for ultimate revenge," the ghost shook his head, for once unable to find the words to describe what was in his soul, "I…will never, never…forget…"

All at once, the bedroom door was flung open and Jonathan and Candy ran in. "Didn't we talk about knocking," began their mother.

"We heard the Captain!" Candy replied breathlessly.

Carolyn looked over to find her son. He was enveloped in Daniel's suddenly solid arms, holding him tightly against his rough, wooly peacoat. "You're back, you're really back!" the boy murmured.

"Aye, my lad. I'd never leave my family forever."


End file.
